Thinking of O'Day 30 - any positive or negative feedback?

[Steps]

We have just sold our 86 272..and I can tell all those who stick to the story about the "2 happiest days for a sailor..." is NOT true! Sad to see her go. She is a great boat and got us back into sailing. Reliable, simple and generally well behaved boat. We are now looking at 30 footers, and O'Day is on our short list. We are mostly comfort seeking cruisers, with many overnights and multi-day trips planned. We are NOT looking for wing keel (anymore), so 302's are out. Any positive or negative feedback is welcome. Other boats on our short list are Catalinas (of course), Sabre, S2 9.2, and possibly a few others...

Thanks!

 

[Apex]

Re: Thinking of O'Day 30 - any positive or negative feedback

steps, you may consider full keel boats instead of fin even. that comes from your description of looking for kind sea motion. Speed and agility didn't come to mind, and i think of fin keel for that.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Re: Thinking of O'Day 30 - any positive or negative feedback

The O'Day 30 is a C. Raymond Hunt design and it is a great boat. Same basic design as the Ranger 30, which you might also wish to consider. It is large down below for a 30-footer, has stand up headroom for most and is a decent sailing vessel. Much different than a 270. You will like the performance of the fin keel (over the 270 and any full keel boat). The decks are wide and comfortable. The cockpit is T-shaped and usually the boat comes with an inboard diesel.

 

[FastOlson]

We spent a night on an ODay 30, and were about to buy that boat...
But changed our minds.
The head compartment was so tiny that you could put an average size person in it or a roll of TP, but not both at once.

Be sure you check out the layout carefully. Also, all of the mast wiring came out at the base of the spar in the bilge area - good place for corrosion, albeit a fixable concern.

Kind of a "big" thirty footer. Kudos if the mainsheet is still on the bridge deck and not ham-fistedly moved somewhere else.

Having seen the scary pictures of the OD-30 sistership that lost it's keel due to poor construction of the sump, we are kind of glad we did not buy one.
Having said that, it's a good looking boat, and like like all older boats, a good survey will tell the tale.
Cheers,
Loren

ps: if the Ranger Yachts 30 hull (aka the "Hunt 30") is really the same as the OD-30, one detail that is noticeably different is the interior headroom of the Ranger. Different deck mold. About 6' max inside, IIRC, and maybe a touch less.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Having seen the scary pictures of the OD-30 sistership that lost it's keel due to poor construction of the sump, we are kind of glad we did not buy one.

If you're thinking of the same thread I remember (from 2009), the affected boat there was an O'Day 302, and possibly the other 3-digit O'Day models. These were built after the 30 and as far as I know the weaknesses weren't present in the 2-digit models.

 

[FastOlson]

If you're thinking of the same thread I remember (from 2009), the affected boat there was an O'Day 302, and possibly the other 3-digit O'Day models. These were built after the 30 and as far as I know the weaknesses weren't present in the 2-digit models.

I have not tried to hunt down that thread, eye-catching as it was (!). You could easily be right, and if so, good call.

Loren

 

[BarryL]

Re: Thinking of O'Day 30 - any positive or negative feedback

Hello,

IMHO the O'day 30 is a basic cruiser / racer from the early 80's. There are a LOTS of boats that are very similar: Catalina 30, Islander 30, S2 9.2A, Tartan 30, etc. Some additional information: I looked a bunch of S2 9.2A boats - ALL had leaks around the chainplates. Same with Irwin 30 and 31. The Pearson 30 will sail better but is a lot smaller. Most came with a tiller, few have a wheel. Sabre 30 is better built but will cost lots more.

The O'day 31 is the same boat as the 30 but has a swim platform. If you like to swim off the boat and / or use a mooring, the swim platform is very handy. The 31 came out in 85.

Good luck,
Barry

 

[colinhulse]

30 O'day

Buy mine, great lakes boat. I have 2 foot-itus

 

[Pat]

Re: Thinking of O'Day 30 - any positive or negative feedback

We sail on an inland lake in Kansas where sometimes it just blows like heck. Being on an inland lake, we have rollers that will travel the whole length or width of the lake. That said,
we were sailing on a friends O'Day 31 and a storm was headed toward us..Not a surprise and we were headed back to the slip..the winds per were approaching 45 knots as we headed back but I have to say, I was very impressed with how well his 31 did in those conditions..we had to beat back part of the way, and had rolled in a goodly portion of the headsail to maybe a 60-70 percent size, but the boat handled the wind and waves with no problem....it was pretty tough on the skipper as we both traded positions, but the boat did well...my wife Heather was on board and she even felt secure as we went hard to weather to get home before the storm...I've also been on a
full keel boat in nearly the same conditions where we could not tack...had to jibe instead
which was not nearly the fun of the O'Day 31....so maybe, it's just what we get use to.
the O'Day 31 was a good heavy weather sailor.....Have also been on a 302 in the same conditions and it did well also...just my humble opinion(s)...my 272 does well too, but I would also reef the main well in advance...my two cents worth.